US Stock Futures Surge After Jobs Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The U.S. economy added 292,000 new jobs in December, versus economists' expectations for a gain of 205,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5 percent. Data on wholesale inventories for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while consumer credit data for November will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 197 points to 16,616.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 25.75 points to 1,958.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 56 points to 4,345.25.

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index declining 0.07 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.11 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.38 percent. French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.18 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.39 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.59 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.97 percent and India's BSE Sensex gained 0.33 percent.

Analysts at CLSA upgraded

from Underperform to Outperform and raised the price target to $79.00. Kellogg shares rose 1.59 percent to $71.50 in pre-market trading.